Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-01-31
ARE We CHEATED?
The King Of Babylon Read from
Spears and in the Color of
Liver the Future.
The Delphic Oracle Deluded Great
Generals and Wise People by Be.
ing All Things to All Men.
Tho Christian Religion Has Rescued the
Sinful from Death and Filled tho
World with Joy.
Special to the Gazette.


ernacle this morning the Rev. T. De Witt
Talmage, d. D., baptized by immersion g
number of persons who preferred that
mode, as on the Sunday previous he had
baptized by sprinkling those who so de-
sired. Professor Browne the organist
rendered the "Sonata" in C minor by
Rheinberger. The opening hymn, sung
by the whole congregation, was that be-
ginning:
Oh, happy day that fixed my choice
On Thee, my Saviour and my God.
After reading another list of those who
during the week mad united with the
church, Dr. Talmage discussed the sub
ject SIS the Christian Religion Cheat?
His text was: ole made his arrows
bright, he consulted with images, he
looked in the liver. "-Ezekiel xxi, 29
The preacher said:
Two modes of divination by which the
King of Babylon proposed to find out the
will of God. He took bundle of arrows,
put them together, mixed them up, then
pulled forth one, and by the inscription
on it decided what city he should first
assault. Then an animal was slain and
by the lighter or darker
COLOR OF THE LIVER
the brighter or darker prospect of success
was inf, rred. That is the meaning of the
text, "He made his arrows bright, he
consulted with images, he looked in the
liver"
Stupid delusion, And yet all the ages
have been filed with decisions. Itseems
as if the world loves to be hoodwinked
the delusion Of the text is only specimen
pf OF of
upon the human race. In the lat
ter part of the last century Jo-
hanna Southcote came forth pretending
to have divine power; made prophecies,
had chapels built in her honor, and 100,
600 disciples came forth to follow her.
About five years before the birth of Christ,
Apollonlus was born, and he came forth,
and after five years being speechless &C
cording to the tradition, he healed the
sick and raised the dead, and preached
virtue; and, according to the myth, hav-
ing deceased, was brought to resurrec-
ton,
The Delphic oracle deceived vast null
titudes of people: the Pythoness seated
in the Temple of Apollo utterlng crazy
jargon from which the people guessed
their individual or national fortunes or
misfortunts. The utterances were of
such a nature that you could read them
any way you wanted to read them. A
general going forth to battle consulted
the DelphiC oracle, and he wanted to find
out whether he was going to be safe in
the battle, or killt ii In the battle, and the
answer came forth from the Delphic ora
Gle in such words that, if you put the
comma before the word "never," it
means one thing, and if you put the
comma after the word "never," it means
another thing just opposite. The message
from the DeIphic oracle to the general
was: $50 forth, return never in battle
shalt thou perish" If he was hiHed that
was according to the Delphic oracle; if
he came home safely, that was according
to the Delphic oracle. SO the aDcit Mt
auguries deceived the people. The priests
of those auguries, by the flight of birds,
or by the intonation of thunder, or by the
inside appearance of slain animals, told
the
FORTUNES OR MIsFORTUNES
of individuals or nations. The sibyls de-
ceived the people. The sibyls were sup
posed to be inspired women, who lived in
caves and who wrote the sibylline books af-
forwards purchased by Tarquin the Proud.
So late as the year 1929, man arose in
New York, pretending to be divin. be
ing, and playing his part so well that
wealthy merchants became his disciples,
and threw their fortunes into his disciple
ship. And so in all ages, there have been
necromancies, incantations, witchcrafts,
sorceries, magical arts, entertainments,
dlvinations and decisions. The one of
the text was only a specimen of that
which has been transporting in all ages of
the world. None of these delus Jus &C
complished any good. The, deceived,
they Pauperizgd the people, they were as
cruel as they were absurd. They opened
no hospitals, they healed no wounds, they
wiped away no tears, they emancipated
no seldom.
But there are those who say that all
these delusiOns combined are as nothing
compared with the delusion now abroad
in the world, the delusion of the ChIis-
tian religion. That delusion has to-day
2OO,OOO,OO0 dupes. 1t proposes to encir-
Gle the earth with its girdle. That which
has been called delusion has already
overshadowed the Appalachian range on
this side the sea, and it has overshadowed
the Balkan and Caucasian ranges on the
other side the sea. 1t
HAS CONQUERED ENGLAND
and the United States. This champion
delusiOn, this hoax, this swindle of the
ages, as it has been called, has gone forth
to conquer the islands of the Pacific; the
Melanasia and the Micronesia and Ma
lsyau Polynesian have already surren-
dered to the delusion. Yes, it has con-
quered the Indian Archipelago, ana Bor-
neo, aud Sumatra, and Elebes, and Java
have fallen under its wiles. In the Fiji
Islands, where there are 10000 people,
l02, 200 have already become the dupes
of this Christian religion, and if things go
on as they are now going on, and if the
Influence of this great hallucination of
the ages cannot be stopped, it will swsl-
low the globe. Surprising, then, that
Christianity is the delusion of the centu-
ries, as some have pronounced it, pro-
pose this morning to show you what has
been accomplished by this chimera, this
fallacy, this hoax, this swi. die of the
ages.
And in the first place, l remark, that
this delusion of the Christisn religion has
made wonderful transformations of hu-
man character. l will 60 down the aisle
of any church in Cnristendom, and l will
find on either side that aisle those who
were once profligste, protane, unclean of
speech, and uuclean OF action, drunken